Cultural Bridges Number 24, English version

Dear Families,

There is something about spring that encourages everyone to look forward. Fifth, Eighth, and Twelfth grade students start getting excited about promotions and graduations. And the weather reminds us that summer is coming our way, and our families start getting outside more.

During this issue of our magazine, we are sharing information about two of the programs offered to Issaquah School District high school students, Running Start and Washington Network for Innovative Careers or WANIC. Make sure to read these to talk to your children about the options they have to enrich their high school experience.

We are also excited to promote the new Issaquah School District pilot breakfast program. Students are served breakfast at Clark Elementary, Issaquah Middle School, and Issaquah High School. If you have children at those schools, let them know they can get fruit and pre-packaged items such as yogurt, cheese, cereal, muffins, and sandwiches. The idea is to expand this program next school year.

Grocery inflation has picked up this year, making it hard for families to keep their cupboards and fridges full of healthy and nutritious food. If you need food assistance, please read about the services that are offered by the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank. In addition to their Food Market, they have special programs to serve the community such as Lunch for the Break and Summer Lunch, which offer families with students food during school breaks.

If you are concerned about your children watching television all day or playing video games while you are at work this summer, please read our Raising Humans in a Digital World article. You will learn how to raise kids who have a healthy relationship with technology.

Congratulations and best wishes to those who are celebrating promotions and graduations. We hope you will be enjoying this special time with your families!

3 Issaquah Schools Foundation

9 Running Start Program

14Washington Network for Innovative Careers

18Raising Humans in a Digital World

19Pilot Breakfast Program

23Celebrating Easter in Mexico

Alicia Spinner Cultural Bridges Manager

Issaquah Schools Foundation

P. 425.391.8557 M. 425.295.4024

E. alicia@isfdn.org

 Scan Me!

To read/download all Cultural Bridges publications in Arabic, Chinese, English, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish, or Vietnamese, visit: http://isfdn.org/cultural-bridges-magazine/

ALICIA SPINNER

Program Manager

CHRISTIANA SCHUMANN

English Editor

CLAUDIA ROMO

Spanish Editor

LAURA NI Editorial Assistant

NANA TSUJINO

Japanese Editor

NATALIA ARGUTINA

Russian Editor

SHAIMA MANSOUR

Arabic Editor

SONG PARK

Korean Editor

TRAM PHAM

Vietnamese Editor

YINGCHEN PHOTOGRAPHY

Cover Photographer

YINGYING CUI

Chinese Editor

2022-23 Academic Enrichment Grants

At the Issaquah Schools Foundation, we are excited to award 27 Academic Enrichment Grants this year!

Grant Recipients Grant Type School

Grant Title

Jennifer Quimbey Literacy/ SEL Apollo PurposeFull People Library Collection to support Social Emotional Learning

Kevin Christensen STEM

Leilani Kollasch Literacy

Kim Brousseau Literacy

Monique Cabellon STEM

Molly Bankson & Sarah Fulghum Literacy

Tami Foos STEM

Nancy Trapp-Chen Literacy

Niki Yasumiishi Literacy

Beaver Lake Printing the Future: Increasing Output Possibilities for Photography and Graphic Arts Electives

Briarwood Diverse Books to Enrich 5th Grade Book Clubs

Briarwood

Ready for Reading! Using short fictional texts to engage readers in critical thinking practices

Briarwood The Math Makeover That's Catalyzing Change

Cedar Trails

Cedar Trails

"I see me!" Representation in First Grade Classroom Libraries

Full STEAM Ahead- Learning With LEGOs!

Challenger Accelerating Intermediate Readers

Challenger

Brandy Falk Playground/ Athletic Clark

Haley Skavaril Literacy

Christine Wieland STEM

Stephanie De Jesus Literacy

Meg Kaufman & Sherri Gage Literacy

Lena Tsaoussis STEM

All Booked! Guided Reading Books for Young Readers

The Power of Play: Recess Reboot with Playworks

Cougar Mountain Nonfiction Class Books to Increase Engagement

Cougar Mountain Gizmos, Online Science Simulations, for Our Student Scientists

Creekside Integrating Content to Enhance Engagement: Science & Social Studies Books

Discovery Out Loud and Proud - Audiobooks for All Students

Gibson Ek Dream it, Design it, Print it: 3D Resin Printing for Project-Based Learning

Thank you, donors, for making it possible to support school and classroom enrichment at all levels!

What is MTSS in General?

The Issaquah School District Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) visual framework illustrates the model of proactive, tiered supports for students and reaches many areas of the ongoing work in the Issaquah School District. This set of supports is continually changing and improving to promote the Social-Emotional well-being of students while proactively responding to needs in the areas of Behavior and Academics.

• Layers: All students receive Tier 1 or Universal Instruction. In addition, students with skill or knowledge gaps receive additional support, instruction, and/or intervention.

• Continuum: Sometimes, the way to layer supports is through the intensity of instruction. For example, ALL students get small group instruction, and SOME get more or longer small group sessions because they need more support at that time.

MTSS is a proactive framework to improve outcomes for each and every student through a comprehensive continuum of evidence-based supports for academic and social/emotional learning. The goal is to provide equitable opportunities at the individual, classroom, school, and district levels.

MTSS employs a team-driven, data-based, problemsolving approach. Components include early interventions, a comprehensive assessment system, and common assurances around the highest leverage instructional, intervention, and assessment practices.

*Delivering the supports in this visual is a lot like slicing into a cake: you get the top layer and also the layers beneath. Higher tier MTSS supports are IN ADDITION to high-quality Tier 1, not a replacement.

Multi-tiered supports are both layers of support and a continuum of support. It is not only one location or program but includes daily classroom-based supports and interventions.

How does MTSS address systemic inequity?

MTSS is about screening ALL students and using data to diagnose needs (behavioral, social-emotional, and academic). Then, using that data, we give those students matching classroom support.

It creates a system where schools implement and analyze common academic and behavioral data at set times throughout the year. This data is then used to intervene thoughtfully and efficiently with students. With the foundation of MTSS being data-driven and time-bound, it helps remove barriers that are often associated with inequities and opportunity gaps. These barriers include an over-reliance on anecdotal evidence, a lack of intervention matching, a lack of early intervention, and struggling students having to access help outside of the school day.

The District believes that if we are to acknowledge that systemic inequities exist in our world and our education system, this can lead to an achievement gap for certain groups of learners. If we can address that gap with early

interventions, we can see student needs before they are compounded over time. If we intervene early enough, we can stop the achievement gap from becoming inescapably deep for the student to climb out of.

What Are Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Elementary Literacy?

To improve Kindergarten – 2nd graders’ early literacy, the Issaquah School District also uses the MTSS system to meet the goal of fluently decoding text in the primary grade levels (Kindergarten to 2nd Grade). The District uses multiple sources of information to identify the group of students who need extra support. The sources include:

• Running Records and observations. This includes what the teacher AND the parent notice in the daily performance of the student.

• Curriculum-based and calibrated progress monitoring assessments that measure how students respond to or internalize instruction on specific skills.

• Validated assessments (i-Ready) provide an external benchmark to determine if students are transferring their skills beyond the curriculum and are able to apply skills to standards-based tasks.

To learn more about ISD MTSS system, visit: https:// www.isd411.org/programs-services/mtss.

To learn more about the i-Ready test and its scoring system, visit: https://www.isd411.org/academics/testing/ elementary-district-assessments/iready/i-ready-familyassessment-report.

Based on the above sources, the District creates a cycle for Early Literacy MTSS review. In Kindergarten – 2nd Grade, each cycle will assess students using i-Ready to measure progress and determine how best to differentiate reading instruction to meet students’ needs in learning decoding or foundational reading goals. Then, the District uses the new Reading Foundational Skills curriculum to differentiate instruction for students based on their learning needs. This is called Instruction Matching. The cycle will be repeated in September, January, and April.

The Cycle for Early Literacy

ISD Title 1 Program

BY SUSAN HARPER Title 1 Teacher at Apollo Elementary

certificated teachers in a small group setting.

Many parents are concerned about whether the pull-out during the school day will interfere with students’ regular learning time. They are afraid that there will be a regular curriculum learning loss during Title 1 time. How do the classroom and Title 1 teachers cooperate to make sure there won’t be any regular class learning loss?

In the Issaquah School District, we do our best to offer a full continuum of support in literacy and math. Title I services are considered Intensive Interventions, which are evidence-based programs provided to supplement core instruction in ways that targeted classroom supports may not be able to accomplish effectively.

Title teachers always attempt to minimize the impact of students missing classroom instruction, adhering to guidelines to ensure that core instruction is not missed during intervention services. Title teachers also work to collaborate and partner with classroom teachers to promote the transfer of skills and to enhance student learning.

At Apollo Elementary, we have three Title 1/LAP intervention specialists: Susan Harper (myself), Jody

Title I programs and services provide supplemental education assistance that helps students meet our state’s challenging academic standards and assessments while also taking an active, engaged interest in what they learn and can do.

The Issaquah School District's Title I, Part A program mission is to provide intensive intervention for students not meeting standard in literacy and, in some schools, math. The goal of the program is to accelerate learning for these students and bring them quickly to standard.

Those elementary schools whose free and reduced lunch rate is higher than the district average receive Title I, Part A dollars to support identified students. Students within these buildings are targeted for assistance based on multiple measures. Test scores from Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBA), district assessments, grades, Fountas and Pinnell reading assessments, and teacher observation are combined to create a rankordered list of students. Students are invited into Title I, Part A programs, beginning with those most in need of service. As students exit the program, their place is taken by the next student with the greatest need. Students identified for Title I services are taught by highly qualified,

Chandonnet, and Andrea Bahr. Jody and I work full-time, and Andrea is part-time. Collectively, we have been working at Apollo for nearly 50 years! We say we have the best teaching job at school- targeted small group instruction. Most of our time is spent teaching reading. This year we also started teaching a few math groups for fourth and fifth graders.

We are dedicated to staying current with the best practices in reading instruction. Currently, we are participating in a two-year LETRS (Language Essentials for Teachers of Reading and Spelling) training provided by the school district. Our coursework has positively and directly impacted our teaching and student learning.

We have seen great success in student learning due to the collaboration with MLL (Multi Language Learner) teachers, classroom teachers, and parents. Often parents ask us for ways to work with their children at home. Here are our best ideas: read, read, read to your children at home in any language, play board and cards games that foster communication, turn on the closed captioning feature on the television, check your child’s Clever page for reading activities supported by the teacher, and remember to ask the teacher for any needed support.

5th Grade Day Camp

This year, 5th-grade students from all Issaquah School District elementary schools will participate in a one-day camp at Camp Waskowitz. Cultural Bridges invited Jane Harris, the Principal of Apollo Elementary, to briefly introduce our 5th-grade families to this day camp and the expectations.

Cultural Bridges (CB): What is this Day Camp about, and what will it look like?

Jane Harris (JH): Camp Waskowitz is located just outside North Bend and is an all-inclusive one-day (10 am – 7 pm) outdoor education experience. All 5th-grade students in the Issaquah School District will have the opportunity to attend the same camp on specific days in April with their school’s 5th-grade cohort.

CB: What activities will the 5th Grade Students be doing during the day?

JH: Waskowitz Outdoor Education Center is run by the Highline School District. It provides students in Highline, as well as students in other districts, with programs that focus on connecting with nature and personal growth. Students will be hiking, observing nature in an authentic setting, eating and learning on the trail, experiencing a true outdoor campfire, and an after-dinner dance!

CB: What will students learn from the camp?

JH: Students explore the forest’s settings to enhance their Northwest and Pacific Coast science and environmental education learning along with Northwest history. “Groups will hit the trail to learn, explore, observe, and connect with nature and each other!”

CB: What do parents need to prepare before the camp?

JH: The students’ teachers will be communicating with families

about camp preparations, such as meal forms to indicate any food allergies, any medications need for a student during a day field trip, and permission slip to attend camp.

Parents need to make sure that the students are prepared to bring a water bottle, a backpack, and layers for variable weather; we could get rain, snow, wind, and sun up here! The cost of attending 5th Grade Day Camp is $85.00. This price includes transportation, lunch on the trail, dinner back at the camp lodge, after-dinner campfire, and dancing.

CB: What are the student expectations during the camp?

JH: Again, students should bring a water bottle filled with water, a backpack with essential items for themselves, and wear layers of comfortable hiking-style clothing for variable weather. Students will ride the bus with their school to and from camp, so they need to follow the Issaquah School District bus ride rules. Students remain with their assigned group for the day and follow the directions of teachers, chaperones, and Camp Waskowitz staff.

CB: What are the safety measurements?

JH: Along with the Camp Waskowitz staff, schools will have teachers, nurse(s), paraprofessional educators, and a small number of volunteer chaperones. Teachers and chaperones will stay with the same group for the entire hiking day.

CB: What if some students chose to opt-out, is there any Plan B for these students? Would they miss any educational time?

JH: There will be a teacher(s) on hand at each elementary school to provide a learning environment for students who choose not to attend. Students can also apply for a scholarship to attend the day camp experience.

Running Start Program

Running Start Program is a Washington State program that allows high school students in their 11th and 12th-grade years to attend college-level classes at a local college with free tuition. The student who participates in the Running Start program can earn dual credits, which means the grade and credits earned for both high school and college. All Issaquah School District Running Start students continue to be ISD students and can continue participating in sports, clubs, and activities/events at their high school. Running Start students can still have access to high school counselors for mental health and academic support.

The colleges which most Issaquah School District students attend for Running Start program include:

• Bellevue College

• Central Washington University –Sammamish Campus

• Renton Technical College

• Lake Washington Institute of Technology

• Green River Community College

• Other options may exist – students can talk to their high school counselor.

There are three quarters per year at the colleges: Fall quarter (late September to December), Winter Quarter (January to March), and Spring Quarter (March to late June). Students can choose to take either a full-time Running Start Program or a part-time Running Start Program schedule. A full-time schedule means students take three 5-credit college classes, a total of 15 credits each quarter (15 college credits = 3 high school credits). A part-time schedule means students take some high school classes at the high school and some Running Start classes at the college. Some college classes meet every day, while others meet 2 or 3 times per week. Students can take any class offered by a college, but need to prioritize a plan for meeting graduation requirements. For some classes, students may need to meet prerequisites or score a certain level on the placement test to be eligible (check each college course catalog and talk with a high school counselor).

• A 5-credit college quarter class = 1.0

high school credit (a full-year high school class)

• A 3-credit college quarter class = 0.5 high school credit (a semester high school class)

Class schedules in college are different from high school. College classes’ start times can vary, some can start as early as 6:30 AM, and others can start as late as nearly 10 PM. Classes may be held in person, online, or hybrid. Each quarter the class selection and class schedule may vary. There are no separate classes for Running Start students, so they will learn alongside students aged between 16 to 40+. Running Start students can make a class schedule that works best for them within the limits of space availability.

The full-time Running Start program pays for up to 15 college credits per quarter. Students can take more credits than the Running Start program will cover but have to pay tuition themselves for the additional credits. Part-time Running Start students need to consult with the high school counselor because the number of college credits available for part-time students can vary. The program will not pay for text fees, any class fees (if applicable for the class like art supplies or automotive class at Renton Technical College), or incidental costs (meals or parking). Students can apply for financial aid at the college for the cost of textbooks and fees, etc. There will not be any transportation provided by the program or the District. Students need to use their own transportation method to get themselves between the college and home (all students under age 18 have access to a free ORCA bus pass).

Running Start students need to take college-level classes that are 100-level or higher:

• English begins with ENGL101; many composition and literature options are available.

• Social Studies has specific courses that can meet World, Civics, US History, and NW Studies requirements. Several additional Social Science departments are available (Psychology, Sociology, Geography, Political Science, etc.)

• Math includes college level math that is above Algebra 2. This means students need to complete Algebra 2 in the high school before taking a math class in the Running Start program.

• Science students need to be ready for college-level curriculum

and pacing. There are many science departments; check for prerequisites at the college. Students who choose Chemistry and Physics may need to demonstrate a level of math proficiency.

Check each college’s course catalog or ask the high school counselor for courses/department/class availability. (**School Counselors provide an equivalency sheet that explains which college courses will meet each high school graduation requirement. Not all colleges have an offering for every graduation requirement.)

College quarters do not align with high school semesters. Students need to make a year-long commitment. This means there is little flexibility to make big changes. If students choose to participate part-time in the Running Start program, they need to register for college classes that do not conflict with their high school schedule each quarter. This requires flexibility, planning, and timely action. Students need to be mindful of the travel time needed between the high school and the college. They also need to communicate with college professors and high school teachers in the event of a schedule conflict, which should be very rare.

Issaquah School District has many students who are very successful in the Running Start program. Some traits that help students be successful in Running Start:

• Organized and aware of deadlines for homework, class registration, tuition, etc.

• Flexible in finding and scheduling classes based on what is needed to graduate and adjusting plans when a certain class is full.

• Committed to attending classes regularly and on time.

• Disciplined and self-motivated, without family or high school intervention.

• Independently responsible for their own schoolwork, grades, and progress.

• Ready to work independently in an adult setting, with older peers, and with less teacher support.

• Ready for transportation like driving self, taking the bus, carpooling, or family rides.

ISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT

During the Running Start Program, students must independently:

• Apply for this program.

• Initiate a meeting with a high school counselor to plan which classes to take.

• Bring the form to a school counselor to sign each quarter. This pays the tuition, and students cannot register without it.

• Register for classes on time and find classes they want/need at times that work for their schedule.

• Plan and be aware of important dates (e.g., start of quarter, enrollment deadlines, etc.)

• Regularly READ email communication from the college and the high school.

• Identify when they need support from the college and then use them.

• Schedule to meet with a high school counselor each quarter to ensure they are on track to graduate.

The high school counselor specifies needed graduation requirements, which college classes meet them, and can offer suggestions about other college class options. They sign the enrollment (RSEVF) form each quarter so the high school can pay tuition for the Running Start students. (The student must schedule an appointment and bring the form, then submit the form to the college.) Students must submit a signed RSEVF form for the college to receive the tuition. For example, if the student did not turn in the winter quarter form, the high school wouldn’t pay the winter quarter tuition. Once the college sends college grades to the high school, they will add them to the high school transcript. (All RST grades received must be entered on the high school transcript by state law.) School counselors do not have access to the college at all. They can support students in completing their tasks but do not have any access or power to do it for them.

IMPORTANT: When students participate in the Running Start program at the local college, keep in mind that the college only communicates with the student (not the high school or families) regarding registration, deadlines, or performance. Running Start students are considered regular college students and receive no special treatment. The college does NOT share attendance,

grades in progress, student behavior, information, etc., with either the school or parents. The Running Start students have access to college support services. At the end of each quarter, the college will send final grades to the high school. The high school has no insight into how a student is doing – they only receive the final grades for the classes.

Throughout the years, Running Start students have reported some challenges and surprises:

• Classes are fast-paced since one 5-credit class covers a whole year of the high school curriculum.

• Classes have more homework/ reading than high school courses.

• Students are often reluctant to contact the college office for assistance.

• Students do not always realize they can meet with college advisors for guidance on college pathways and requirements.

• College is on a quarter system, and high school is on a semester system. This means the breaks and vacations (except winter break in December) will not line up.

• Students cannot drop out of a class and sign up for high school class easily.

The families of Running Start students need to keep in mind that the Running Start classes are not on high school Canvas, and the attendance won’t be on Family Access. Students are responsible for sharing progress and grades with families. After each quarter, families can check Family Access to see final grades once they are posted. This may take a few weeks to appear. High School transcripts will include the final grades once posted.

If the students have IEPs or 504s, they must apply with the college. The college determines supports on their own campus. Students should

contact the college’s disability services office well in advance of any published deadlines to apply. The college may require documentation as a part of the application. For students with an IEP, start by discussing Running Start with the high school IEP team well in advance. The IEP team can provide additional support and guidance.

High school students who have not decided yet should select a full high school schedule of classes for next year during the course request process. Requests can be adjusted later once students have successfully registered for the Running Start Fall quarter.

Meet with a high school counselor to discuss options, or visit a Running Start program to learn more!

• Issaquah High School: https://sites. google.com/site/ishscounseling/RST

• Skyline High School: https:// sites.google.com/site/ spartancounselingcenter/runningstart-1

• Liberty High School: https:// sites.google.com/view/lhscounseling/running-startinformation?authuser=0

• OSPI Running Start FAQs August 2021: https://www.k12.wa.us/sites/ default/files/public/ossi/k12supports/ pubdocs/Running-Start-FAQs.pdf

• Bellevue College: https://www. bellevuecollege.edu/runningstart/

• Central Washington University –Sammamish Campus: http://www. cwu.edu/sammamish/cwu-runningstart-program

• Renton Technical College: https:// www.lwtech.edu/academics/highschool/running-start/

• Lake Washington Institute of Technology: https://rtc.edu/runningstart

• Green River Community College: https://www.greenriver.edu/students/ academics/running-start/

Advocacy for Improved Education Fast Food Style

BY BETSY GRANT ISD PTSA Special Education Network Chairperson special-education@issaquahptsa.org

As we all go through this busy life of raising families, many of us find ourselves with more than one time commitment and a lack of a plan for dinner. In those circumstances, a quick restaurant meal is a solution some families can use to fill in the gap. While a pre-planned and home-cooked meal would be more ideal, sometimes fast food is the simplest way to get the job done.

If you ask parents if they want to advocate to improve their children’s educational opportunities, the response will likely be yes, but they are too busy. Just like the dinner plan, the two contradicting circumstances are hard to resolve. How do you start? Getting involved with advocacy feels impossible when you already have too many things to accomplish. However, if more voices could be heard by decisionmakers and lawmakers, then the changes could make parents’ lives and the lives of our children easier in the long run.

Your “fast food access” to advocacy and getting your voice heard is through joining a local PTSA unit. The Issaquah School District has a PTSA unit based at each school and a community-wide unit focused on special education (https://www.issaquahptsa.org/issaquah-ptsa-council-member-pta-ptsas). By joining a PTSA, you have the advocacy engine of the Washington State PTA (WSPTA) and the National PTA behind you to help you along. If you join the Washington State PTA Action Network Group (https://actionnetwork. org/forms/subscribe-to-wsptas-action-network-group), they make it easy to use your voice by sending action alerts that are quick, easy ways to communicate with our legislators on topics they are actively working on. The action alerts make sharing your voice only a couple of clicks away.

As the parent of a child with disabilities, I am especially interested in addressing funding, inclusion, and support in special education, which is currently one of the top 5 legislative priorities for the Washington State PTA. In less than 5 minutes, using a link from an action alert via the Washington State PTA Action Network Group, I was able to let my legislators know I want them to support current pending legislation to increase special education funding across the state. You can choose to take action the same way on that priority or any of the current legislative priorities (https://www. wastatepta.org/focus-areas/advocacy).

Your PTSA will present a menu of issues with possible solutions, and you can choose to quickly order action on the ones that appeal to you.

CALENDAR

ALL SCHOOLS

Apr. 10-14: Spring Break, no school for students and staff

May 8-12: Staff Appreciation Week

May 29: Memorial Day, no school for students and staff

Jun. 19: Juneteenth Day, no school for students and staff

Jun. 20: Last day of school, early dismissal

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

Jun. 20: Report cards available in Family

Access

Apollo

Apr. 16: STEM Fair Student Project Due Date

Apr. 18 – May 2: Orange Ruler Fundraiser

Apr. 28: Popcorn Friday

Apr. 28: STEM Fair, 6PM – 8PM

May 5: Orange Ruler Fun Run

May 15-19: Spring Scholastic Book Fair

May 19: Multicultural Night, 6PM – 8PM

May 24: PTA General Membership Meeting, 7PM

Briarwood

Apr. 20: PTA Planning Workshop Space, 6PM

Apr. 21: Popcorn Friday

May 5: Popcorn Friday

May 8: PTA General Membership Meeting, 6:30PM

May 19: Popcorn Friday

May 25: PTA Planning Workshop Space, 6PM

Jun. 2: Popcorn Friday

Jun. 2: Carnival, 5:30PM

Jun. 16: Popcorn Friday

Cascade Ridge

Apr. 25: Cascade Choir Spring Concert, 6:30PM

Apr. 27: 2nd Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 4: 3rd Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 6: Mariners Night, 6:40PM

May 16: PTSA General Meeting, 6:30PM

May 18: 1st Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 23: Heritage Festival

Jun. 3: Goodwill Truck Donation, 2PM-5PM

Jun. 13: Kinder Playdate

Jun. 14: 5th Grade Celebration

Jun. 15: School Field Day

Cedar Trails

Apr. 20: PTSA General Meeting, 6:30PM

Apr. 28: Popcorn Friday

May 26: Popcorn Friday

Jun. 8: PTSA General Meeting, 6:30PM

Jun. 14: End of Year Celebration, 5PM

Challenger

Apr. 25: Parenting with Love and Logic

Seminar (Session 4) 6:30PM – 7:30PM

Apr. 26: 3rd Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 3: 5th Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 9: 5th Grade ELA Computer Adaptive

Test

May 9-10: 5th Grade ELA Performance Task

Day

May 10: 4th Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 11: 5th Grade Math Computer Adaptive Test

May 12: 5th Grade Math Performance Task

May 15: 4th Grade ELA Computer Adaptive Test

May 16: 4th Grade ELA Performance Task

May 17: 5th Grade WA Comprehensive Assessment of Science (WCAS)

May 18: 4th Grade Math Computer Adaptive Test

May 19: 4th Grade Math Performance Task

May 22: 3rd Grade ELA Computer Adaptive Test

May 23: 3rd Grade ELA Performance Task

May 24: 1st Grade Concert, 6:30PM

May 25: 3rd Grade Math Computer Adaptive Test

May 26: 3rd Grade Math Performance Task

Jun. 7: Kindergarten Grade Concert, 6:30PM Clark

Apr. 20: Staff Appreciation Lunch

May 1,2,4 & 5: SBA Testing: Grades 3 & 4

May 8-12: SBA Testing: Grade 5 & Science Tech Program Students

May 16: PTA General Meeting, 6:30PM

May 19: Walk-a-Thon

May 25: Coffee with Christy, 9:30AM –

10:30AM

May 25: 5th Grade Music Program, 6:30PM

Jun. 7: Shark Hunt Open House, 5PM

Jun. 9: Kindergarten Music Program 6:30PM

Jun 13: Choir Music Program, 6:30PM

Jun 13: Yearbook Sales End

Cougar Ridge

Apr. 18: PTSA General Meeting, 6:30PMA

Apr. 28: Heritage Festival, 6PM

May 16: PTSA General Membership Meeting

Jun. 9: End of Year Carnival, 6PM

Jun. 13: PTSA General Meeting, 6:30PM

Jun. 14-16: 5th Grade Promotion & Picnic

Creekside

Apr. 29: Science Night, 5:30PM – 7:30PM

May 16: PTSA General Membership Meeting,

7PM

May 17: Family Movie Night, 6PM

Jun. 2: Book Fair

Jun. 9: End-of-Year Party

Jun. 14: 5th Grade Promotion

Discovery

Apr. 26: Family STEAM Night

May 3: Community Connections with Kathy

May 5: Popcorn Friday

Jun. 2: Popcorn Friday

Jun 7: Community Connections with Kathy

Jun 9: Family Fun Night

Endeavour

Apr. 25: Parenting with Love and Logic

Seminar (Session 4), 6:30PM

Apr. 26: Heritage Night, 5:30PM – 8PM

May 3: Coffee with Kathy, 9:20AM – 10:30AM

May 18: PTSA General Membership Meeting,

7PM

May 31: Art Walk

May 31: Incoming Kindergarteners Jaguar

Hunt

Jun. 12: 5th Grade Party

Jun. 13: 5th Grade Promotion

Grand Ridge

Apr. 19: After School Movie: 1:30PM –3:30PM

Apr. 25: Grand Ridge Cultural Fair, 6PM

May 5: Parents on the Playground, 12:10PM – 1:30PM

May 12: Popcorn Friday

May 17: After-School Movie: 1:30PM –3:30PM

May 22: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 7PM

Jun. 2: Parents on the Playground, 12:10PM – 1:30PM

Jun. 7: After-School Movie: 1:30PM – 3:30PM

Jun. 9: Popcorn Friday

Jun. 13: Summerfest, 5:30PM

Issaquah Valley

May 17: PTA General Membership Meeting

Maple Hills

Apr. 18: Eagle Reader Clubhouse

Apr. 25: PTA General Meeting, 6:30PM

Apr. 27: Music Performance, 4th Grade, 6:30PM

Apr. 28: Popcorn Friday

Apr. 28: PTA Auction Night

May 1, 2, 11, 19 & 23: SBA Testing – 4th Grade

May 2: Staff Luncheon

May 2: Eagles Choir Concert, 6:30PM

May 4, 8, 9, 17 & 22: SBA Testing – 3rd Grade

May 5, 12, 15, 16 & 24-26: SBA Testing – 5th Grade

May 12: Popcorn Friday

May 16: Eagle Reader Clubhouse

May 26: Popcorn Friday

Jun. 2: Popcorn Friday

Jun. 16: Popcorn Friday

Newcastle

May 19: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 7PM

Sunny Hills

May 23: Kindergarten Concert, 6PM –6:30PM

Jun. 13: PTA General Meeting, 11:30AM

Jun. 15: 5th Grade Promotion, 10AM

Sunset

Apr. 17: Talent Show Rehearsal

Apr. 19: Talent Show

Apr. 19-21, May 9 & 18-19:

Grade 5 – SBA/WCAS Testing

Apr. 20: PTA General Membership Meeting, 7PM

Apr. 25-27 & May 16-17:

Grade 4 – SAB/WCAS Testing

Apr. 25: 3rd Grade Music Concert, 6:30PM

Apr. 28: Spring Jogathon Fundraiser

May 2-4 & 23-24: Grade 3 – SBA/WCAS Testing

May 2: 1st Grade Music Concert, 5:30PM

May 3: New Families FACE Event, 6:30PM

May 16: Kindergarten Music Concert, 5:30PM

May 18: PTA General Membership Meeting, 7PM

May 31: Sunset Elementary Culture and

Heritage Fair, 6PM – 8PM

Jun. 8: STEAM Extravaganza

Jun. 13: Field Day

MIDDLE SCHOOLS

Apr. 27: Track Meet at Issaquah Middle, 3:30PM

May 3: Mid-Trimester 3

May 4: Track Meet at Beaver Lake, 3:30PM

May 11: Track Meet at Beaver Lake, 3:30PM

May 18: Track Meet at Maywood, 3:30PM

May 25: Track Meet at Cougar Mountain, 3:30PM

May 30: Middle School Track Final at Issaquah High, 3:30PM

Jun. 16: Trimester Report Card writing – Early Release @10:55AM

Jun. 20: 3rd Trimester Ends

Cougar Mountain

Apr. 19: PTSA Bingo Night, 6PM

Apr. 28: PTSA General Meeting, 10AM

May 19: PTSA General Meeting, 10AM

Issaquah

Apr. 19: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 6PM

Apr. 25: Eastshore Choral Festival

Apr. 27: IMS Multicultural Fair, 6PM

Apr. 28: Java with JZ, 10AM – 11AM

May 17: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 6PM

May 26: Java with JZ, 10AM – 11AM

Jun. 1: Chorus Concert, 6:30PM

Jun. 6: 6th & 7th Grade Band Concert, 6:30PM

Jun. 8: 8th Grade Band & Orchestra Concert, 6:30PM

Jun. 14: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 6PM

Maywood

Apr. 19: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 6PM

Apr. 20: Coffee with Crystal, 9AM – 9:30AM

May 16-19: Scholastic Book Fair

May 18: Coffee with Crystal, 9AM – 9:30AM

May 25: Orchestra Performance, 6:30PM

Pacific Cascade

May 31: Choir Concert, 7PM

Jun. 2: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 12PM

Jun. 6: Band Concert, 7PM

Jun. 8: Orchestra Concert, 7PM

Pine Lake

May 19-21: Theatre Arts Play – Mary Poppins Jr., 7PM

Jun. 1: Band Concert, 7PM

Jun. 2: PTSA Spring Fling, 5:30PM

Jun. 5: Orchestra Concert, 6:30PM

Jun. 8: Choir Concert, 7PM

Jun. 16: 8th Grade Promotion, 9AM

HIGH SCHOOLS

Apr. 17: 3rd Quarter Ends

Apr. 24: Quarter Three Grades Available in Canvas

May 15: Midterm Grades Available in Canvas

Jun. 15: Class of 2023 Graduation: HIS, LHS, SHS at T-Mobile Park

Gibson Ek

May 3: Staff Appreciation Luncheon

May 18: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 6PM

Jun. 7: Staff Appreciation Luncheon

Jun. 14: Class of 2023 Graduation: GEHS, 2PM at Issaquah Community Center

Issaquah

Apr. 19: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 7PM

Apr. 21: CCC Spring into College Event

Apr. 22: Evergreen Philharmonic Concerto Concert, 7PM

Apr. 26: Jazz Band/Percussion Ensemble Concert, 7PM

May 1: Community Service Hours Due

May 3: Staff Appreciation Monthly Breakfast

May 19: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 9:30AM

May 25: Choir Cabaret Concert, 7PM

May 31: Senior Recognition by IHS

May 31: Spring Band Concert, 7:30PM

Jun. 1: Orchestra Concert, 7PM

Jun. 7: Staff Appreciation Monthly Breakfast

Jun. 7: Senior Recognition by HIS

Jun. 13: Senior Farewell

Jun. 14: Senior Breakfast

Liberty

Apr. 18: Renton Technical College Visit, 8:10AM – 11:35AM

Apr. 18: PTSA General Membership Meeting, 6:30PM

Apr. 20: Staff Appreciation Luncheon

Apr. 21: DECA National Competition

Apr. 26-27: Spring Musical Dress Rehearsals, 2:30PM

Apr. 27-29: Advanced Sports Medicine’s WCTSMA Spring Symposium Competition

Apr. 28-29 & May 4-6: Spring Musical – Mamma Mia, 7PM – 10PM

May 1-5 & 8-12: AP Testing

May 1: FCCLA Meeting, 3:10PM – 3:40PM

May 6: Spring Musical – Mamma Mia (Matinee), 2PM – 5PM

May 9: Music Alive Choir Dress Rehearsal, 2PM – 9PM

May 10: Music Alive Choir Concert, 7PM – 9PM

May 11: Staff Appreciation Luncheon

May 19: Prom

May 25: Orchestra Concert, 7PM – 9PM

May 30: Choir Dress Rehearsal, 3PM – 5PM

May 30: Band Concert, 7Pm – 9PM

May 31: A&E Choir Concert, 7PM – 9PM

Jun. 1: Sunmark Concert

Jun. 2-3: Student Directed One Act Play Festival, 7PM – 10PM

Jun. 5: FCCLA Meeting, 3:10PM – 3:40PM

Jun. 14: Senior Breakfast, 7AM

Jun. 14: Night of Reflections, 6PM

Jun. 14: Senior Sunset, 6PM

Skyline

May 12: Skyline Shooting Stars Basketball Game, 5PM – 7PM

May 25: PTSA General Membership Meetings, 6:30PM

SCHOOL DISTRICT Washington Network for Innovative Careers (WANIC)

WANIC stands for Washington Network for Innovative Careers. It’s a high school skill center, and its main campus is located inside Lake Washington Institute of Technology. They serve Northeast King County and cover about 1000 square miles of school districts within the consortium. The consortium involves seven participating school districts (Northshore, Lake Washington, Bellevue, Mercer Island, Issaquah, Snoqualmie Valley, and Riverview) and 34+ participating high schools.

They offer advanced Career and Technical Education (CTE) courses in which students earn three high school credits during a full school year with a total 540 hours. They have 21 Skill Center programs across 9 locations.

The students are eligible to apply to all the WANIC programs in any of the above seven districts. They have programs spread out throughout the region.

Issaquah School District students make up 11% of the enrollment in the 2022-23 WANIC full-year program. Out of a total of 660 WANIC students, there are 71 students from ISD in the 2022-23 full-year program and 49 students in the Summer 2022 program.

WANIC Skill Center programs are open to high school juniors (11th grade) and seniors (12th grade). These programs are Career & Technical Education (CTE) programs. They include full-year programs with two semesters where students can earn three full high school credits or 1.5 credits each semester. They are year-long classes and are called preparatory programs. The programs WANIC offers in the summer semester are a bit different. The summer classes are available to students in 9th - 12th grades and are called exploratory programs.

What do students gain by participating in a WANIC Skill center program?

• Opportunities to have Extended Learning Time each day in a career pathway experience.

• Preparation for employment and college

• Advanced skills training

• State-of-the-art equipment

• CTE graduation pathway fulfilled

• Dual credit (high school and college credit)

• College credit and/or industry certifications

• Options to continue in 2-year and 4-year colleges

• Student leadership opportunities

• Experienced instructors supported by Advisory Committees

To be eligible to register for the WANIC program, the student has to:

• Be registered at a WANIC consortium high school.

• Be in 11th or 12th grade. 10th-grade

students may be considered for some programs.

• Receive approval from a career specialist. The career specialist or the college and career specialist at the sending high school is critically important because they are the ones who process the registration and approve the application for a WANIC program. If a student is interested in the WANIC program, they need to speak directly with the career specialist as soon as possible to enroll for next fall.

• Some of the programs require information sessions in order to be fully approved.

• Review the prerequisites for the programs. Some programs have prerequisites.

• April 15th is the priority application deadline for programs in Northshore and Bellevue school districts.

• Must provide your own reliable transportation.

Some other important considerations:

• Half the school day is spent in a different location than the home high school

• Commitment and logistics – some classes start early (7 AM) or end late (6 PM)

• Transportation, travel time, after-school activities, family commitments, and work

• Follows the calendar and schedules of the receiving school district – often different than home high school and Running Start program.

• WANIC is NOT a Running Start program. Students become enrolled in the school district where that program is in addition to their own district.

Some varieties of scheduling options that students and families should consider, and the student's high school career specialist and the school counselor will be the ones to coordinate the schedule and finalize all of the details, making sure that everything is balanced in both locations. Students need to register as usual with their school process and get the courses they want all in line.

Some really important considerations as students schedule their classes:

• Students could have morning WANIC classes, equaling three periods. Lunch takes place during the travel period. They would then take the other three periods at their home high school.

• Alternatively, students could choose to take classes at their home high school in the morning, have a travel period, and then come to WANIC in the second part of the day.

• Some students take four periods at their home high school. If they are interested in doing the DigiPen programs, they can take a late afternoon course there. This

works great for a seven-period day.

• Some schedules that DO NOT work well are when students want to take six or seven periods at their home high school and then try to take DigiPen courses at the end of the day. This is an extremely stressful situation.

WANIC programs are always FREE! Some programs may have supplies/materials fees, but “barrier reduction funds” for financial assistance are available for students to apply to receive. These funds can cover costs such as class fees if applicable, required uniform costs, gas card or ORCA bus pass (ORCA free if under 18 years old), and other items may be fully/partially covered. Any student in ANY Skill Center program may qualify for assistance if one or more of the criteria apply: Student receives Free/Reduced lunch at sending school AND/OR family qualifies for another state-funded program AND/ OR school counselor confirms family has financial need.

If a student is in an IEP Special Education program or 504 Accommodation Plans or MLL/ ELL (Multilingual Learner/English Language learner), connect with the school’s support team (IEP case managers and counselors) if interested in WANIC programs. WANIC also partners with the student’s support team from their sending high school to ensure a good fit and that the program expectations are clear to the student before enrollment.

By participating in the WANIC program, students may earn college credit in addition to high school credit. WANIC is aligned with Pacific Northwest dual college credit and is accessible at five different colleges in their consortium area. The majority of the WANIC credits that students earn are with Bellevue College or with Lake Washington Technical College. They also have agreements with Shoreline and Cascadia and other programs in the area. Most WANIC classes not only offer high school credits, where students can earn three credits but also credit equivalent courses. This means the courses are equivalent to the college credits at certain colleges. They have the articulation agreements and help the students get set up and apply to receive these credits. Students have to earn a B grade or better to be able to earn dual credits in total. It costs $50 a year to get as many credits as you possibly can. For example, in the Medical Careers program, students earn 32 credits for $50 compared to $500 per credit in a standard college. This is money, time, and effort saving that is all transferable. The transcripts for this program do not come through WANIC. They have to be obtained through the college and through Pacific Northwest College credit. WANIC/DigiPen students have the opportunity to earn credit while they are in the DigiPen programs for the DigiPen College.

Issaquah School District students interested in the sports medicine program do not have to fill out a WANIC application. They can

apply within the school district to access this program. For all the other out-of-district programs that District students want to attend, they need to fill out an application on the WANIC website. The application opens in January and closes in April. For detailed dates for applications, enrollment, and open houses, please check the WANIC website: wanic.org.

WANIC Summer Semester is available for rising 9th through 12th graders at multiple locations. They are exploratory, rigorous, fast-paced classes that meet for 7 hours a day for three weeks and are FREE. Students receive 0.5 HS credits (affects GPA) and no college credit. Grade reports are sent to high school for the official transcript – this is not optional.

Applications open in April after the Spring Break.

Some examples of programs offered by WANIC:

• Automotive Technology: At Bothell HS & Bellevue HS; 2-year program available; 3 HS credits (CTE (2.0) & Lab Science (1.0)); Industry certification –Automotive Service Excellence (ASE); Discover the real-world experience of automotive careers, use the latest equipment, procedures, and system.

• Aviation Technology-STEM: At WANIC @ LWTech; 3 HS credits (CTE (2.0) & Lab Science (1.0) PENDING); Prerequisite –Geometry; This STEM course is an entry point into a multitude of careers in the aviation industry, such as an Airline Pilot, Unmanned Aircraft Systems Operator, or Air Traffic Controller. Students will use a simulator and have the opportunity to earn ground school certifications –VFR (visual flight rules), IFR (instrument

flight rules), and drone skills

• Baking & Pastry: At Bothell HS; 3 HS credits (CTE (2.0) & Lab Science (1.0)); Learn techniques of mixing, shaping, and folding while applying the science and math behind baking. Practice decorating techniques like sugar and chocolate garnishing in a well-equipped, industry-standard kitchen.

• Cisco Networking Academy: At Newport HS; 2-year program available. 3 HS credits (CTE (3.0)); Industry certifications: Year 1 – CCNA (Cisco Certified Networking Associate), Year 2 – CCNP (Cisco Certified Networking Professional); State-of-the-art networking lab. Design, build, manage, and troubleshoot networks.

• Dental Careers: At WANIC @ LWTech; 3 HS credits (CTE (2.0) & Lab Science (1.0)); Prerequisite – Biology recommended; Explore dental career opportunities. Learn about instruments, procedures, sterilization, radiography, anatomy, infection control, etc. State-of-the-art dental lab and equipment. Industry certifications: Basic Life Support First Aid & CPR, *optional: National Entry Level Dental Assistant (NELDA)

• Fire & EMS: At WANIC @ LWTech; 2-year program available; 3 HS credits (CTE (1.0) & Lab Science (1.0) & PE (1.0)); Taught by active, off-duty firefighters. Industry certification: Basic Life Support First Aid & CPR; Part of each week is spent at local fire departments. Class is a mix of hands-on training and academics.

• Health Science Careers (Nursing): At WANIC @ LWTech & Sammamish HS & Woodinville HS; 3 HS credits (CTE (1.5) & Lab Science (1.0) & Health (0.5)); Prerequisite – Biology recommended; Real-life experience at health care clinics; Industry certification: Basic Life Support First Aid & CPR, Test to become

Nursing Assistant Certified (NAC) and complete the National Nurse Aid Assessment Program (NNAAP).

• Sports Medicine: At Issaquah HS; 3 HS credits (CTE (2.0) & Science (1.0)); Prerequisite – Biology recommended; Learn anatomy, physiology, medical terminology, nutrition, injury prevention, rehabilitation, taping and wrapping, classroom instruction, lab participation, field internships; Industry certification: First Aid & CPR

• DigiPen Art & Animation: At WANIC DigiPen Campus; 2-year program available; 3 HS credits: Year 1 – CTE (1.0) & Fine Art (1.0) & Art History (1.0), Year 2 – CTE (2.0) & AP Art Drawing (1.0); Learn skills to succeed as an artist, illustrator, or animator

• DigiPen Data Analytics & Visualization: At WANIC DigiPen Campus; 3 HS credits (CTE (2.0) & Pending Math (1.0)); Prerequisite - Algebra 2; Computer sciencebased program examines practical challenges involving complex realworld data. Extract strategic insights from data, build predictive models to forecast future trends, and efficiently communicate them to inform business strategies.

For a full listing and descriptions of WANIC programs offered for 2023-24, please visit: wanic.org. For questions, email wanic@ lwsd.org or call (425) 739-9400.

Cultivating Resilience

In children, powerful emotions come with the territory. Contending with academic pressure, social media stress, worries about the future, and concerns about mental health, it is easy for children—and parents—to feel anxious and overwhelmed. But it does not have to be that way. In January, ParentWiser invited Dr. Lisa Damour and Reena Ninan to provide a Q & A presentation to share their clear, researchinformed explanations alongside illuminating, real-life examples and give parents the concrete, practical information they need to steady their children through the bumpy yet transformational journey into adulthood.

How can a parent help with a high-performing low-grade level kid’s anxiety issues related to homework and other extracurricular activities? Where do the parents start with anxiety?

Psychologists have always recognized that anxiety is a normal healthy function. Some anxiety is good for people to keep them from doing dangerous things. This is rational anxiety. We don't want to treat this type of anxiety like something we're trying to get rid of altogether. The anxiety that needs to get treated is the irrational anxiety which means the level of anxiety is higher than makes sense in the context. When we come across irrational anxiety, it is always the case that the person who is anxious is overestimating the danger and underestimating their ability to manage the danger. There's a handy DIY try or the at-home approach that parents can use to manage the anxiety: a parent may say, “Okay, tell me what your worry is about?” Have a conversation with the kids to get the anxiety down to a rational level and find out what your kid is worried about in terms of their ability to do the work. Find out what the sense of loss of control is and how bad it is, then smush it.

What are some of the best anxiety activities and strategies you recommend to teach children to manage their anxiety in situations where they may not have access to a parent?

When kids are anxious and especially when they’re younger, but also later into adolescence, they often come to their parents for help with their feelings. However, there are many other ways that can help kids feel better when they have upset feelings. Talking to someone sometimes is not the best option when it turns into rumination, which is the psychological term for where a person is talking about something. The more this person talks about it, the worse he/she feels. It is kind of the emotional equivalent of picking at a wound. So, under these conditions, parents need other strategies that kids can use that do not require the presence of a grown-up: 1. Try not to think about the thing that’s making them anxious that they cannot do anything about it. Find a distraction that changes their mental channel; 2. Breathing deeply and slowly can powerfully control anxiety. A shift in breathing tells their brain that it is now safe; it helps the brain calm down. Talk to the kids about why breathing works and that it can be done quietly in the middle of class without other people noticing.

How can parents encourage their kids to do better in areas that he/ she is not interested in or motivated?

There’s a metaphor that parents can first use when talking to their kids: School is like a buffet where students are required to eat everything. But there will always be some stuff they like and some stuff they would never like. The reality is that schools are going to ask students to eat everything on the buffet now and find out later which things they like best (i.e., which items on the buffet are their favorite subjects). Talk to kids about this metaphor around food. Many kids appreciate it because it takes away the shame about not wanting to consume everything being delivered and offers empathy.

How to deal with teenagers when they have meltdowns, especially 7th - 9th graders, who have emotional meltdowns far more than they used to?

The reason for this is at that age, their brain is remodeling, and the part of the brain which houses the emotions gets upgraded before the

more sophisticated part of the brain, which maintains the ability to have a perspective on anything. The best metaphor is to think of a glitter jar. Parents can get a jar, fill it with water, two tablespoons of sparkly glitter at the bottom, and glue the lid. When a teenager or a kid has a meltdown, shake the jar and show it to them. Tell them it is like their brain right now; their emotions have hijacked the whole system. Then, settle the jar on a table and ask them to sit there and watch the glitter settle down. What is quite remarkable is that if kids have a chance to re-regulate emotionally, to give their emotions a chance to quiet down, it either solves the problem because the problem was that they became overwhelmed, or it allows them to be able to solve the problem because they have their frontal lobes back online and can really make it through.

How do these principles relate to students with ADHD but the maturity level is lower than their age?

Students with ADHD tend to be a couple of years behind, both socially and academically. The reason they are missing a lot of information is because their attention is scattered. Parents need to work with clinicians who specialize in this and can give very tailored and specific strategies that will work for the specific child. There are a wide variety of strategies that can work for ADHD students, like being in the front row, having a planner, setting phone reminders, or having structured support at school, etc. It makes a huge difference when students adopt good strategies and figure out the ones that work for them. How do parents prevent themselves from doing everything for their ADHD students?

In a parent’s busy life, it’s easy to jump in, take over and make things happen because it’s vastly more efficient to do such. It is hard to let go and make the time to allow the kids to do things for themselves. It involves inventing systems that we are not accustomed to. Handing something off to a kid does take time to help them figure out how to make it happen. Again, there are a lot of strategies that work for ADHD kids. If one strategy does not work, do something else and work with the kid to see what strategies might help.

Please give us a Parenting-To-Go tip.

Parenting has always been a really challenging thing to do. Development is a bumpy road, and it’s always been a bumpy road. The parenting job is to support healthy problem-solving and healthy coping that lowers the bar to something realistic. Let development do its thing.

To listen to a full length of Dr. Lisa Damour’s Q & A speech, please visit: ParentWiser website (https://www.parentwiser.org/).

Dr. Lisa Damour and Reena Ninan co-host the podcast Ask Lisa: The Psychology of Parenting. Dr. Damour is recognized as a thought leader by the American Psychological Association. She writes about adolescents for the New York Times and appears as a regular contributor to CBS News. She is the author of two New York Times best sellers and the soon-to-be-published book, The Emotional Lives of Teenagers: Raising Connected, Capable, and Compassionate Adolescents. Reena Ninan is a television journalist who has worked as a White House correspondent, foreign reporter, and news anchor for CBS, ABC, and Fox News. She recently started her own media company, Good Trouble Productions.

Raising Humans in a Digital World

Do you have questions about online safety? Do you want to help your students build a healthy relationship with technology?

ParentWiser invited Diana Graber to deftly navigate and demystify the complicated digital landscape facing today’s kids. She did so by defining buzzwords, answering crucial questions, and providing parents and educators with activities they can use to teach their children to harness technology rather than be harmed by it.

Diana started the lecture by stating that kids are being socialized really differently than ever before:

• Asynchronous (not happening at the same time): A text chain started today may last a whole week.

• Everything they do is permanent and public: A girl might think it’s cute today but could be embarrassed ten years later.

• 24/7 availability: The kids feel like they have to be on all the time, which causes a lot of anxiety with lots of kids.

• Absence of social cues: It is hard for kids to understand what they are trying to tell each other without facial expressions and tone of voice.

• Quantifiable (#’s of likes, etc.): Everything they do is counted by likes and the number of followers.

• Visual: Friends are super visual with all of the things that they do.

• Algorithmic: Algorithms largely decide what the kids see and what they like.

How do we raise kids who have a healthy relationship with technology?

Raising a kid today is like building a house: Having a strong foundation of Social/ Emotional Skills and building upon it with the structure of reputation, screen time, relationships, and privacy.

Building a strong foundation of Social/ Emotional Skills is really important because kids will really need these as they get older and go online: Face-to-face interactions, hands-on exploration, and interaction with nature. Kids thrive when they are read to, talked to, or played with. Research shows the negative impact of technology on young children. Studies also show a 40% decline in empathy among college students after 2000 as online messaging platforms, chat rooms, and, eventually, social media emerged.

How to prepare kids for a world full of screens?

Screen time has doubled during the pandemic to nearly 8 hours per day, which does not include time spent on screens for remote learning or schoolwork. During the pandemic, youth needed technology for their schoolwork and to maintain connections with family and friends. Research shows that social media and video games provided temporary relief from real life and offered important opportunities for social engagement. “Goldilocks Hypothesis” research shows that there’s a point between low and high use of technology that is “just right” for teens when their sense of well-being is boosted. They suggest screen time for weekdays should be limited to 1 hour 40 minutes for video game play and 1 hour 57 minutes for smartphone use. On the weekend, the limit was 3 hours 35 minutes for playing video games and for watching videos, 4 hours 50 minutes.

What parents can do is educate our youth on how to use technology well. Our youth need time to make sense of a complex digital world. Some ways to let students think deeply about screen time:

• Think about how many hours have been used on screen time and help kids consider how they spend their “time.” Stop measuring by “how much?” Instead, ask: “For what purpose are you using the screen?” Share examples of ways they have created, shared, or participated in using digital media.

• Negotiate a Tech Agreement with each child. It will be different based on the child’s age. Have a discussion with your child and come to an agreement. Rephrase or re-implement the agreement, if necessary, based on each child.

• Teach kids about digital reputations: Everything they post online stays online forever. It can be searched for and viewed by vast, invisible audiences. Others can share what the child posts, and there’s no “oops” key on the internet! Do not lecture kids about their online world or have one-time assemblies or use a fearbased approach.

• Make a bucket list of non-screen activities. Take a 24-hour “Screen-Free” vacation.

• At the same time, parents need to be a ROLE MODEL for screen time use.

Parents need to know teens are not “addicted” to technology; they are addicted to each other. Diana shared problems and safety tips for parents to pay attention to and know how to appropriately use YouTube, TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram, and online games (Please check her full lecture for the details).

All the above social media apps lead to the question of privacy and personal information on the internet. Children’s privacy is their currency, but all the social media apps and

the things they use, even for school, are collecting their personal information. The existing law (COPPA – Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) protects the privacy and personal information of children under the age of 13. This means that sites and apps must get parental consent in order to collect the personal information of children under 13. But kids use these apps earlier by lying about their age which is easy to do when they put in a fake birthday to open accounts. When they do so, they are not protected by this important law. Another important thing about privacy is that even if students set their account to private, their bio and pictures will never be private; it will always be public by default. Kids do care about their privacy as they grow older. Teens do not want to leave a bad impression that could hurt college or job prospects. They worry they may be photographed at any moment by friends, classmates, or even strangers, and their images may be being taken and shared out of context or used to generate a viral “meme.” They also worried about “doxxing,” when someone posts sensitive information online about another with the intent of stirring up trouble. All these create a lot of anxiety for the kids today.

At the end of the lecture, Diana listed three things that parents can do right now:

• Respect age requirements: Nearly every social media site requires kids to be at least 13. It takes about 13 years of life to develop ethical thinking skills, and online interactions require ethical thinking. Remember that age-gating does not work when real age is not given.

• To be a parent, be like a dolphin: Be firm, flexible, curious, and playful.

• Educate yourself and your kids: When students engage in hands-on activities and discussions about digital life together, it empowers them to maintain a balance between real life and screen life, to protect themselves and each other, and to create change.

To learn more from Diana Graber’s full lecture regarding “Raising Humans in a Digital World”, please visit the ParentWiser website (https://www.parentwiser. org/). Parents can also check out www. cybercivics.com to learn more about their curriculum on helping kids build a healthy relationship with technology. Visit www.cyberwise.org and subscribe to the newsletter.

Diana Graber is the author of “Raising Humans in a Digital World: Helping Kids Build a Healthy Relationship with Technology.” She co-founded CyberWise.org and founded CyberCivics. com, two organizations dedicated to helping adults and students learn digital citizenship and literacy skills. A long-time media producer with an M.A. in “Media Psychology & Social Change,” Graber is a recognized expert on technology’s impact on human behavior.

Pilot Breakfast Program

Last month, the Issaquah School District Food Service teams started serving breakfast at three schools as part of a pilot program. In the early fall, representatives from the Issaquah Schools Foundation and some of the PTA/PTSA expressed an interest in having the district offer breakfast for students.

During the pilot, breakfast is being served at three schools, and data will be collected about how many students participate, the cost of running the program, and the feasibility of expanding the program to some other schools in the future.

The pilot program breakfast option is only available at Clark Elementary, Issaquah Middle School and Issaquah High School. Breakfast is free of charge for students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals; students who would like to purchase breakfast may do so for $2.50. If you would like your student at Clark, IMS or IHS to purchase breakfast, or are interested in applying for free or reduced-price meals, please visit the Food Services website: https://www.isd411.org/fs/pages/376

For now, the menu options are simple, including fruit and pre-packaged items such as yogurt, cheese, cereal, muffins, and sandwiches, in order to not create waste while the demand for the program is assessed.

box of nonperishable staples plus a full bag of fresh produce, eggs, dairy, and protein options. Need help with grocery deliveries? Email Michelle or call 425392-4123 x104.

Get more information here: https:// issaquahfoodbank.org/issaquah-powerpacks

We are very lucky in our community to have the support of the Issaquah Food and Clothing Bank. If your family is struggling to keep your cupboards and fridge full of healthy, nutritious food, the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank can help. They serve all families with students registered in the Issaquah School District.

Their market is open Monday through Thursday from 1:00-7:00 p.m. every other week, and families can shop one time each week they are open. You can register online at https://bit.ly/ifcb-signup or you can sign up in person by visiting the food bank: 179 1st Ave SE, Issaquah, WA 98027.

In addition to their regular services, the Issaquah Food & Clothing Bank has several special programs to serve the community. Most of their programs require registration, which generally begins about a month before event dates and can be found via the links below. Any questions regarding these programs can be directed to Michelle Whalen, 425392-4123 x104.

Get more information here: https:// issaquahfoodbank.org/groceries-to-go

If you are not able to shop in their food bank due to transportation, health, aging, or other challenges, this program can help you by delivering the food every other week. Clients receive a customized

Get kid-friendly breakfast, lunch, and snack items, including fresh, healthy options, during the week-long breaks from school. Registration is encouraged to minimize wait times.

Get more information here: https:// issaquahfoodbank.org/summer-lunchprogram

Shop at the food bank for kid-friendly breakfast, lunch, and snack items, including fresh, healthy options, every other Thursday during summer break. Serving school-age children living in our food bank service area. Registration is encouraged to minimize wait times.

Get more information here: https:// issaquahfoodbank.org/summer-lunchprogram

Students can visit school counselors on Fridays to receive a weekend pack of kid-friendly breakfast, lunch, and snack foods that will fit in their backpack. Available at participating schools in the Issaquah School District. Need help connecting with your child's counselor? Just email Michelle or call 425-392-4123 x104.

Students receive a new backpack and school supply packs (based on their grade) in August to be prepared for the next school year. Serving K-12 students living in the Issaquah School District. Register online and pick it up at your local school.

Get more information here: https:// issaquahfoodbank.org/tools4school

Celebrating Cultures at Cougar

Ridge Elementary

The Heritage Festival

BY SIMRAN PURI Cougar Ridge Elementary Parent

"Culture makes people understand each other better. And if they understand each other better in their soul, it is easier to overcome the economic and political barriers. But first they have to understand that their neighbor is, in the end, just like them, with the same problems, the same questions."

- Paulo Coelho

In 2022, we celebrated and experienced several ethnic and country-specific cultures at Cougar Ridge Elementary. In this article, I will share about our Heritage Festival.

I believe it is essential to show the younger generation how people celebrate different holidays in diverse cultures in order to help them develop positive identities and self-esteem. At the Heritage Festival, we had 22 cultural booths representing various countries, where families displayed and demonstrated their heritage and identity while offering entertaining activities and culinary samples.

To help student attendees explore as many cultural booths as possible in an exploratory and fun-based approach, each child received their very own trip passport that had a list of questions for each booth. Upon visiting a booth, children received a stamp after they engaged in the game-based activity and also could search queues at the station

display to answer questions in the passport. Towards the end of the visit at the station, they received a bag of treats and goodies.

Activity stations, flag tattoos, and henna tattoos were the busiest stations, and they had long queues!

Together with singing and playing instruments, students also performed traditional dances and songs in a variety of languages.

The Heritage Festival also included a fashion show where children dressed in traditional clothing and styles to celebrate the diversity and uniqueness of different cultures. Incorporating fashion into the cultural event helped to promote cross-cultural understanding and appreciation while also providing an opportunity for attendees to learn about the unique styles and designs of different cultures.

I personally learned about a traditional Polish folk dance costume called “krakovski.” This folk outfit has become the national costume of Poland. The flower wreath was worn by unmarried maidens only. The small one-lined wreath was worn by children and young teens. A Krakovian maiden also wears a long braid tied with a red ribbon. The main element of the maiden’s clothing is a richly decorated bodice worn over a white blouse. The bodice’s decorations vary between different villages around Krakow. The skirts of Krakovian women were very colorful with various floral

patterns. Aprons were worn over the skirts; the aprons were made of tulle and laces or white cotton. Krakovian women did not wear much jewelry; the most desirable pieces were red coral necklaces called “korale.”

We also discovered that there are many cultural similarities. For example, the roti or chapati from India and Africa look similar to the tortilla from Mexico. Similarly, we learned how food like dumplings, which were common across many stations, have different names. In Japan, it is called the gyoza. Japanese gyoza is a close relative to Chinese dumplings, with a smaller size and more elongated shape. In Korea, dumplings are known as mandu, in India as momo, and in Poland as pierogi.

As I reflect on these cultural events, it is important to highlight that they helped us beyond just sharing information about cultures. Values such as respect, collaboration, and inclusion got further strengthened for the students. We also reinforced social responsibility via sustainability.

With the overwhelming response received last year, in 2023, we would like to take celebrating cultures within the community to the next level. We look forward to participation from additional countries to make this an even bigger celebration.

*2023 Cougar Ridge Heritage Festival will be on April 28th, 2023 at 6PM.

2023 Lunar New Year Celebration

BY QIN CHEN Cougar Ridge Elementary Parent

The 2023 Lunar New Year Celebration hosted by Cougar Ridge (CR) Elementary PTSA debuted on February 3, 2023, and joined billions of Asian families and friends to celebrate one of the most important festivals around the world. This CR cultural event provided an excellent opportunity for our students, parents, school staff, and communities to learn about East and Central Asian traditions celebrating the Lunar New Year while building stronger connections with a wider range of social groups.

The event kicked off with an introduction of the history, traditions, and facts of Lunar New Year by two students. Performances included tai chi, a fan dance, a fashion show, and gu zheng by current and alumni CR students and local communities. It gave us a fantastic sense of Chinese folk dances and music. The dragon dance and kung fu performance by students from a local kung fu academy were definitely the highlight of the celebration. Meanwhile, traditional activities like crafts, shuttlecock, origami, etc., were set up by volunteers in the school's gym. Students had hands-on fun and even wrote their own Chinese calligraphy with instruction from volunteer artists.

Being surrounded by all the clapping and laughing from the audience during the celebration, as an event volunteer, parent of two children (one American Born Chinese and one Canadian Born Chinese), and an immigrant coming to the U.S. for the American dream, I can’t help being emotional with a mix of feelings and belief that I am not alone.

We are grateful to the supporters of the event since, without the tireless preparation, collaboration, and contributions from our PTSA, school staff, parents, and volunteers, this wouldn’t have happened. We saw a strong community that shares common interests and educates, respects, and celebrates cultural differences together.

We are proud of all the participants for presenting and promoting our culture regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, and religion. Many young Asian performers, including my kids, were raised in the U.S. and barely have had the chance to visit their family overseas, especially during the past few years due to the pandemic. Participating in the event helped them raise awareness of their unique culture that was passed down by their ancestors and understand better who and what we are.

We are deeply touched by the passion of 400+ event attendees from numerous cultural backgrounds. Several kids told me that they learned about Asia from the school’s social studies. The celebration tonight gave them an enjoyable heritage experience even though none of them had traveled to those countries in person.

Some more details for this event were also shared by Jun Qian, another Cougar Ridge Elementary parent:

“It was my great pleasure to get involved in hosting a Lunar New Year celebration event sponsored by our PTSA at Cougar Ridge Elementary School. During this event, we were able to bring people together, celebrate, make friends, and learn something new about another ethnic group while participating in cultural activities. One of the most popular activities was teaching kids how to write Chinese calligraphy. Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. During this activity, I saw some Asian kids learn about their history and heritage, which helped them understand how they became who they are. They were interested in obtaining information about their roots. By participating in such activities, the students became more passionate and confident. Not only for the Asian community, this kind of cultural event benefits everyone in our community. Cultural diversity is now very popular in our community; immigrants move into this country every day and become part of the community.”

Getting to Know Your Community

BY CLAUDIA ROMO Apollo Elementary Parent

My name is Claudia Romo. My husband Octavio Cordova, my one-year-old Julian Cordova, and I moved from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, to Washington state in 2017. Now, Julian is six years old, and he goes to elementary school at Apollo. He really loves his school and looks very happy every morning when I leave him there. My youngest child, Bruno, was born in Bellevue. He is three years old, and he stays at home with me.

We moved to Washington for work, looking for a great family adventure to improve our lives. When we made the decision to migrate from our country, we were very excited because it was a big change.

We have found a beautiful life here. We love that our kids are growing up surrounded by nature. We like hiking, skiing, and camping in the summer. The part we love the most is doing all these things together as a family!

The opportunity that our sons have to be bilingual makes us very happy because of all the doors that can be opened for them.

We are pleased that our sons live with diversity. We like that they are familiar with other cultures and believe that opens the world to them.

Living away from family has brought us closer together as a small family, and we are thankful for it.

But migrating is not easy. Leaving our country was also a difficult decision. Leaving Mexico meant having to quit many valuable things; it meant having to quit the life we had built so far.

In Mexico, people are very friendly. You can be close to people easily. When we quit our jobs, we weren’t just leaving the company; we were leaving all the friends that we made there. I worked for the same company for ten years, and I am pretty sure that if I still lived in Mexico, I would still work there. It is not just because I liked my job; it is because of all the friends that I made there.

When we sold our house, we weren’t just leaving our home; we were leaving our neighborhood, our friends, and the people who we grew up with who have a special place in our hearts. Friendship doesn’t end with distance, but we miss being there for every reunion, every birthday, for every special occasion.

One of the hardest things to do when we migrated was leaving behind our family. In Mexico, family is essential! I am very lucky to be part of a very big and united family where grandparents were at the center, and they were respected and loved very much. I grew up surrounded by many cousins and had a very fun childhood with amazing memories. Living far away doesn’t let us see all our family very often. The fact that our kids are not growing up in that environment of a big family union breaks our hearts.

The second hardest thing that we left when we moved from Mexico was the food. We miss it very much! I didn’t know how to cook when we moved, and a few months later, I discovered myself making Mexican dishes because I needed them. Mexican food is so tasty, with a lot of flavor and color. Food always comes with a celebration or tradition. When we think of Mexican food, we think of family, friends, community, and parties. In Mexico, food has a special meaning. Food is part of who we are.

Mexico is a very beautiful place full of history and culture, nice and kind people, tasty food, and amazing places to visit, like gorgeous beaches, colorful towns, ancient cities, mystical places, incredible nature, and big cities. I wish someday my kids can enjoy all the wealth that Mexico can offer!

Leaving our Mexico was a hard decision to make as parents. We hope that we made the best decision and our kids can have better opportunities here. Still, we will always wonder if we did well in taking them away from all that Mexico means to us.

Easter in Mexico

BY CLAUDIA ROMO & ALICIA SPINNER

As a largely Roman Catholic nation, Mexico celebrates Easter, but this holiday looks very different than in the United States.

Holy Week is the time when Catholics celebrate the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. During Holy Week, people attend church services, fast, and abstain from meat on certain days. It is a time of reflection, prayer, and celebration. Easter season traditionally begins with Carnival, the festival leading up to Lent, the 40-day religious observance representing the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, spanning from Ash Wednesday to Easter.

Carnival is a time of rich living and rich eating. The word ‘Carnival’ is derived from ‘carne’ or meat. Many cities in Mexico host Carnivals. Mazatlán is home to the third-largest Carnival celebration in the world after those in Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. Attracting more than 400,000 people, the event features singing and dancing. Veracruz City hosts the second-largest carnival in Mexico, followed by Merida and Cozumel.

Since many people give up things for Lent, Carnival is all about living it up: dancing, eating, and partying. If you’re lucky enough to be in Mexico during Carnival, you’ll enjoy lively street festivals, incredibly colorful costumes, and welcoming parades.

After the festivities of the Carnival, the first day of Lent starts with Ash Wednesday. This day is reserved for prayer, fasting, and repentance. This is a solemn occasion when believers go to church, and priests draw the sign of the cross in ashes on their foreheads. As a sign of repentance, people leave the ash untouched all-day long.

Like most Mexican holidays, feasting is a big part of Easter celebrations. Since Roman Catholic tradition discourages the eating of red meat during Lent, seafood (especially shrimp) is particularly popular during this time. Many people also eat nopal, a delicious type of cactus that’s popular during this time of year. Seafood and nopal are served in empanadas, tacos, and salads with delicious seasonings added.

Holy Week ends with Easter, when people celebrate the resurrection of Jesus with eggshells filled with confetti, known as 'cascarones' in Spanish. The tradition of cascarones dates to colonial times and is a fun and festive way to celebrate.

Making cascarones is very simple: fresh eggs are taken, a small hole is made in the top to empty the contents of the egg, and it is cleaned and left to dry. Then the shell is decorated with paint and filled with confetti.

Families save eggshells for months to be ready for Easter. Kids love decorating them! The tradition is to break the eggshells on someone's head, releasing the confetti in the process. Cascarones can be found in stores during the Easter season. It is also common for kids to make their own and share or sell them. We love cascarones, they are so much fun!

Since 1987, our community has empowered the Issaquah Schools Foundation to fund programs and resources for students and teachers across our district including every school, every child. Your support is needed now more than ever to help our students!

• Academic Support: After school homework help and labs, curriculum training & materials, online resources, library and audio books, student & teacher grants

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